Tuesday, June 26, 2012

So
I'm sure some of you have been wonder where I've been for the past
couple of months. Well I wish I could tell you I spent the entire time
somewhere warm and sunny drinking margaritas. But, alas, that was only
the first two weeks. The rest of the time I've been working on this
secret project: The Mastodon Super-Heavy Siege Transport!

Some
time ago I got a request to build something unique for a client's
custom Space Marine army known as the Emperor's Knights. The tank had
to be big, have transport capabilities, and he wanted it to reflect the
chapter’s unusually close relationship with the Ordo Malleus. This
dovetailed well with a build I had been wanting to do based on a super
heavy tank seen in the background of the Black Templar’s pic on the 3rd
edition rule box set (sorry, can't find a good pic of it). In the pic
there was this HUGE tank just bristling with weapons.

As
life would have it this commission ended up turning into a secret gift
from his fiancé and so I had to keep it under tight wraps until the
surprise could be unleashed. That time is now.....

The
return of the Indomitable Resolve to the armies of mankind is a recent
one considering the war machine itself is over ten thousand years
old. It’s discovery occurred during the early days of the Harper
Crusade on the planet of Chicaron in the Corvus
system, which had fallen to a heretical uprising that plunged the
entire human population into civil war. It was also here that the
Imperium decided to establish the beachhead in their quest to reclaim
the system in the name of the Emperor.

And so it was on the day of Saint Nathanial’s Ascension that Inquisitor Salvator of the Ordo Malleus along with the entire Emperor’s Knights space marine chapter descended from the heaven onto Chicaron
to bolster the few remaining imperial troops held up in an ancient and
long abandoned fortress known as the Crow’s Nest. Within a few short
weeks the combined effort of the Emperor’s Knights and Inquisitor Salvator’s forces quashed the rebellion and reinstated the rule of imperial law to the planet. With Chicaron now secure Salvator
returned to the Crow’s Nest intrigued by the potential secrets hidden
within its catacombs. It was there behind a vault sealed since the time
before the Horus Heresy that Salvator made his great discovery.

Indentified
as a mastodon super-heavy siege transport this design dated back to the
Unification Wars on Terra and had once accompanied both the Imperial
Army and the AdeptusAstartes during the earliest days of the Great Crusade. It eventually fell out of favor as the more versatile Baneblade
chassis became more available and now only a scant few remain after ten
millennia. How and why this massive siege engine arrived on Chicaron so long ago remains a mystery.

Although it was strip of much its pre-Heresy weapons and technology Salvator saw its potential and pressed the techmarines of the Emperor’s Knights under the watchful eye of his AdeptusMechanicus to rebuild the mastodon to his specifications. Rechristen the Indomitable Resolve the ancient war machine returned to war.

At
first it acted as the mobile command center for the crusading forces
but after being the devastating spearhead in a number of attacks at the
hands of the Emperor’s Knights the Indomitable Resolve was reassigned to
the chapter for the remainder of the campaign.

Once order had be restored in the Corvus system and the Harper Crusade had come to an end Inquisitor Salvator
gifted the Indomitable Resolve to the Emperor’s Knights in honor of
their valiant service to the forces of mankind. However, the seal of
the inquisitor is still boldly displayed on the front of the tank as a
reminder to the enemies of mankind, and to the Emperor’s Knight, that
the Inquisition is ever watchful.

6
comments:

That thing is so wide and covered with guns that it's ridiculous. I love it. It's over-the-top 40k at it's very best. Glad to see you're still churning out new projects, Tom. Any developments on the Thunderfire version of the Imperial Fists Fellblade?